Forgotten
by DramaGeek12
Summary: One moment can change everything. When Alexandra walks into Liam's life, he's taken back to the night 6 years ago when he lost the one thing that mattered most.
1. Collision

_The sound of rain droplets filled the small space of the car as the driver pointed the vehicle home late on a cold September night. The radio was turned up high and two best friends sang their hearts out to the latest pop song. Laughing when one of them missed a lyric, they stopped singing long enough to grin at each other. The small brown haired boy reached out tentatively to take his best friend's hand and she looked away from him, a pink flush filling her cheeks._

_"Did you have fun tonight?" the scraggly 12 years old asked his best friend of five years._

_"It was so much fun! Thanks for taking me to the movies," she said sweetly._

_The young boy cut his eyes over to the front seat where his father was driving and looking at him through the rearview mirror. He knew what he needed to do next and his father seemed to be mentally cheering him on._

_"Would you maybe like to be um... to be my girlfriend?" His heart raced a million times a minute as he looked at her. The rain had picked up and was now matched the rhythm of his heartbeats, thumping loudly on the aluminum roof of the black Sedan__._

_She looked at him for a few seconds, in silence, but then squeezing his hand, nodded and whispered, "I'd love to Liam."_

_"Great!" Liam almost screamed and then smiled sheepishly at his laughing now-girlfriend. "I mean, cool." He tried to control his enthusiasm as he stared at his first ever girlfriend and then leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. She giggled and turned bright red._

_"Ok, settle down you two!" he heard his dad say, a slight chuckle in his voice, but he paid no attention._

_He couldn't stop staring at her. She was perfect and he'd been wanting to ask her out for months now. He watched as she jumped back into a new song on the radio and started to dance to her favorite part. She was so beautiful and her voice was amazing. He could listen to it for hours._

_All of a sudden, her beautiful voice turned into a shill of terror and he was knocked out of his daze. The car began to slide and the breaks squealed in protest against the wet pavement. The world spun around them and the sound of metal tearing filled the air, blocking out the pounding of the rain. The car slowed to a stop and he released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Liam looked and saw his dad glancing back at him._

_"You two ok?" he asked frantically, quickly scanning them for any scratches or cuts._

_Liam's answer was unheard over the blaring of a horn. Headlights streamed in from the passenger side window as an 18-wheeler hurdled towards the car. Liam had just enough time to meet the dark brown terrified eyes of his girlfriend before he felt the blow of impact._

Shooting upright into a sitting position, a sob exploded from Liam's chest. He rubbed his eyes as he gasped for breath, reminding himself for the thousandth night in a row that he was in his room, not in the shattering car. He was alive and safe under his blue down coverlet and Spiderman sheets. His body slowly relaxed, the adrenaline fading out of his system as he laid back down. Staring at his ceiling he tried to rid his mind of the horrible nightmare.

Not being able to banish the images of shattering glass and blood, he stood up and turned on his bedside lamp. Walking across his room, he made his way to his bathroom door and pushed it open. Once inside he flipped on the light switch and was greeted with the bright fluorescent lights that made him squint for a moment. Once his vision came back to him, he began to strip and turned on his shower. It was only 5 in the morning and he had a while before he actually had to get up for school, but on his bad nights he knew he'd never be able to go back to sleep.

Staring into the mirror, he traced the light pink line of a scar across his abdomen. A scar created by shards of glass, a scar that held too many painful memories. He hated the mark on his skin and he fought back his bubbling fury, knowing that it only stemmed from the helpless feeling of losing a loved one and not being able to save them. For a moment, he no longer saw the reflection in front of him but instead his mind was consumed with a picture of those brown eyes, terrified and pleading to be saved. Liam fell to his knees and bit back a scream. He planted his butt on the tile floor and breathed in deeply through his nose to try to relieve the terror and fury that was seeping through his pores.

Struggling to his feet again, he practically leaped into the shower. The blistering heat encompassed his body and his muscles relaxed. He closed his eyes and allowed the water to take the pain away, if only for a few moments. He tried to think of the list of things he had to do instead. He had a paper due in English by the end of the week and there was that science project he had to do by himself since he was, as of a few days ago, without a lab partner.

After about an hour of hot water reducing his skin to wrinkles, Liam stepped out into a steam filled room. He grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around his waist. Walking into his bedroom he rummaged through his drawers and threw on black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He squirted some jell into his hand, cool and gooey, and ran his fingers through his wet hair. At the sound of footsteps downstairs, Liam glanced over at the clock which signaled that it was time to head to the kitchen for breakfast before school. He shoved his books into his bag and walked downstairs, following the smell of eggs and grits.

He winced internally at the gesture of a good home-cooked breakfast. He normally stuck to cold cereal or a protein bar. His mom never made the effort for a big breakfast because he was normally leaving while she was just getting up. Liam knew that the breakfast was pity food and his mother was just trying to make him feel better but that didn't mean he couldn't accept the delicious eggs which appeared to be smothered in cheese. He eyed her cautiously before sitting down at the table. Fighting off the twisting in the pit of his stomach, he dug into his warm breakfast. His father came downstairs as he was taking his first bite and Liam felt a hand on his back.

"Good morning Liam," his dad said quietly while removing his hand from his son's shoulder. He pretended not to notice his son flinch at the touch and put on a fake smile.

"Morning," Liam mumbled. He heard his dad sigh as he walked over to make his own plate of eggs and grits. "Good morning sweetheart," Mr. Reynolds said, greeting his wife with a kiss.

"Good morning. Hope you like the eggs, I added some cheese to them just like you boys like it," she smiled at her husband and then shot a wary glance over at her son who seemed to be lost in thought. "Liam, honey, there's something we need to talk about."

Liam looked up confused, as if trying to remember where he was. "Hmmm?"

"Liam, I need you to focus. It's important," she said, walking over to sit down. She took his hand and felt him tense. "I know today is hard on you, it's hard on all of us-"

Liam yanked his hand away from his mother and stood up. Angry, he raised his voice and the walls shot up. "We are not talking about this. I accepted the pity eggs and grits but I will not sit here and talk about the significance of today."

"Liam!" his father's voice sounded, which only made Liam angrier. "You treat your mother with respect and you do not talk to her this way."

"Look, I've said this over and over. I do not want to talk about this. Every year since I was twelve, you've wanted to talk about what happened. Well let's just get this out there. It's been six years today since the accident. My best friend is gone. I can't get her back. It's time to move on. I'm fine. Let's drop it." He clenched and unclenched his fists to try to get a grip on his anger. Taking a deep breath he turned to his mother. "I'm going to school now."

"Liam, don't walk out on this. We need to talk," his mother's voice was pleading but he just turned his back. "It's about Em-" her words were cut off by the slamming of the door.

Liam walked down the shiny waxed hallways of his high school, listening in to random gossip as he passed by his fellow seniors. There had apparently been a huge party over the weekend with a lot of alcohol which was totally awesome until the cops arrived. It was all anyone could talk about. He rolled his eyes at the trivial minds of his fellow classmates and proceeded to his locker. Waiting for him was his best friend Conner.

"Hey dude! How was your weekend?" his friend asked, clapping him on the back.

"It was pretty good I guess. Nothing extraordinary. Totally hate I couldn't make it to that party everyone's talking about though," he mused as he opened up his locker.

Chuckling, Connor leaned against the locker next to Liam's. "Have you heard the other gossip going around school?" he asked, rather excited.

"Um no, not yet, care to enlighten me?" Liam grabbed his Chemistry book for his first period of the day. He was lucky enough to have a free period after the first two hours of school to catch up on all his work.

"Apparently there's this new girl and all the guys say she's pretty hot," Conner wiggled his eyebrows which made Liam shake his head and laugh.

"Well I'm glad you'll have a new girl to stalk for a while," he mocked and started walking towards his Chemistry classroom. He loved his friend, but Connor could be a little obsessive over girls sometimes. "Hey, I've got to go study. I think Mr. Marsey is going to give us a quiz today. I'll catch you later."

Conner nodded and walked off in the direction of the gym where he had P.E. Liam sat down at his desk and pulled his notebook out. He needed a good grade in Chemistry and wasn't doing so hot at the moment. If he was going to have a shot at getting into Berkley the next fall, he needed to boost his GPA and this class was not helping.

"Good morning class," Mr. Marsey walked in and set his papers down on his desk. He then proceeded to take a sip of coffee while listening to the class mumble their greetings back. "Today we're going to talk about Moles and Molar Calculations."

He turned toward the board and started to write a calculation and definition onto the board. Liam copied everything down into his notebook and then started to doodle on the edges of his paper. His mind often wandered and he ended up scribbling pictures in the white spaces. He was actually pretty good at drawing but he liked to keep it to himself. He felt that drawing was a way of self-expression, and he wasn't ready to share his inner thoughts with anyone just yet.

He'd just gotten done doodling a picture of a rocket ship in the upper corner of his paper when his daydreams of soft brown curls were interrupted. "Mr. Renolds, can you tell me what the molar mass of this equation would be?"

Trying to play off the fact that he hadn't just been off in his own little world and not paying a bit of attention, he squinted at the board. It was filled with number gibberish and a lot of fractions and lines. He didn't have the slightest idea of how to answer the question.

"Um..." he tried to pretend he was doing the math on his calculator by punching in random numbers.

"The answer is 46.0055 which equals the molar mass of nitrogen dioxide." Everyone turned to see who the mystery person with the answer was.

Liam looked up from his made up calculations to see a petite girl with wavy brown hair standing in the doorway. She wore a plain blue V-neck shirt and white skinny jeans complete with black flats. Most of her body was blocked by the teacher who went over to greet her. Not finding much to see, he went back to scribbling his rocket ship he was so rudely interrupted from completing.

After a minute or so, Mr. Marsey turned to the class. "Ah, everyone, I'd like to introduce you to our newest student. She just moved here from Pennsylvania and I'd like you to all welcome her to our class." He stepped aside to let everyone get a good view of her. Liam, not looking up for he was completing the final touches on the flames from the booster rockets, mumbled a greeting along with the rest of the class.

"Hi, my name is Emily Marcot," she said tentatively. Marcot? Liam's eyes shot up to look at the stranger who'd entered the classroom, only to have the breath knocked out of him. His eyes were suddenly connected hers and his mind went blank. Without warning, Liam was thrown back into the car watching the 18-wheeler headlights collide with the shattering class of the rear right passenger window, knocking those brown eyes out of his view forever.


	2. EMM

Staring out the window, the eighteen year old Latina watched as men moved furniture from a van inside her new house. Alexandra was perched on the white fenced balcony that connected with her new bedroom. She liked the added outdoor space and had decided upon arrival the day before that this would be her favorite place in the whole house. She could see down the road to all of her neighbor's ranch-styled homes. Moving from Pennsylvania was a big adjustment since moving meant she'd had to leave her friends and her school behind to start a new life and her senior year in a new town. Even with the changes that were hanging above her like a dark cloud about to burst with rain, she felt oddly at home already. Everything seemed familiar and while slightly confused at the looming sense that she'd seen this home and this street in a dream long ago, she was thankful for the feeling of already accustomed to her new home.

Hearing her mom call from downstairs, she turned away from her view of the sweaty men pulling more belongings out their moving van and walked downstairs. "Yes Mom?" she called as she rounded the corner.

Her mother handed her a sheet of paper and her book bag. "There you go Alexandra. Here's your transcript and your books. I've let the principle know that you're coming. You better hurry; I don't want you to miss too much class on your first day."

Grudgingly, she took the offering and grabbed a pop tart from the box beside her. "Can't I wait a few days before starting? We just got here," she protested in a whine.

"No, I don't want you getting even more behind. Drive safe sweetie," her mother said while ushering her teenage daughter through the door.

As she left, a mover brushed passed her carrying a box labeled "EMM" and she stared at it. She hadn't seen that box during the move which was strange since Alexandra was very thorough and had triple checked all of the boxes before helping to load them on the moving van in Pennsylvania. She thought she'd labeled every cardboard box herself, but apparently not and wanted to inquire about its contents. Those letters seemed so familiar and the order seemed to stir some deep repressed feeling that she couldn't put her finger. She tried to search her memory but as always a wall went up and her head went numb and fuzzy. Alexandra caught her mother's eye as she heard orders to put the box in the master bedroom room. There was something in the way her mother set her jaw that told her not to ask questions and leave and that's what she did.

Pulling into the parking lot, Alexandra chose a spot beside a white pickup truck and hopped out her own black Audi. She grabbed a few strands of hair and started twirling it around, a nervous habit she'd, according to her mom, had had since she was little, and grabbed her stuff. Alexandra didn't want to be starting a new school, especially not the second day upon her arrival in this new state. Squeezing her transcript and a book to her chest, she walked slowly inside the building. Pushing open the door, she began her search for the front office.

The hall was empty as she walked through the brightly lit corridor and her attention was drawn to all of the school spirited posters. There were red, white, and black paper adornments along almost every wall with some sort of cheer scrawled across them. One thing was for sure, sports were a huge part of the school community. Alexandra turned when she saw the sign over an entranceway for the main office and handed her transcript to the receptionist. The lady at the desk printed out a schedule and told her in which direction her first class was located.

"Chemistry," she mumbled to herself as she started back down the hall. She'd always enjoyed math and science and was pretty good at both subjects. Ok, she was being modest. Alexandra was at the top of her class when it came to doing calculations and performing experiments. She didn't know why, but it came easily to her. Stopping to check the classroom number with her schedule, she proceeded to turn the silver handle and open the door.

She'd barely stepped inside the classroom when she suddenly felt extremely nervous and grabbed a lock of hair, twirling it around her index finger. Only a few students glanced over from the interruption. Everyone else was watching a boy sit at his desk with a calculator looking utterly lost. She looked at the board and quickly did the calculations in her head.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out; "the answer is 46.0055 which equals the molar mass of nitrogen dioxide." Cursing herself, she bit down on her lip. Atleast she'd managed to stop twirling her hair around her finger like a stupid little middle schooler.

That got everyone's attention. Now everyone was staring at her, except the boy in the desk. He was still looking at his calculator. He must not have heard her or was too busy clearing off whatever jumbled mess of numbers he'd typed in. The teacher walked over to her with an inviting smile and stuck out his hand.

"Hello, what's your name?" he asked kindly. He seemed like a cool teacher, she smiled in return.

"Alexandra Marcot." she replied softly, trying not to draw attention to herself again and shook his hand.

"My name is Mr. Marsey. You're the new student then?" he asked, though it was quite obvious she was. She glanced around as the teacher stepped away from her. The students, sans the boy who'd moved on to drawing on his notebook, were still staring at her like she was their latest science experiment. She reached up for her hair again then stopped herself and awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. "Ah, everyone, I'd like to introduce you to our newest student. She just moved here from Pennsylvania and I'd like you to all welcome her to our class," the teacher announced and she heard everyone mumble greetings.

"Hi," she said meekly. She cleared her throat to try to gain more power in her voice. "My name is Alexandra Marcot." She smiled weakly at her fellow classmates and the doodling boy's head snapped up as if someone had just said "hey look there's a mass murder in front of you." Her eyes met his and she tried to smile at him through her confusion. It looked like he'd seen a ghost and while he looked vaguely familiar, like someone from a dream or a random person she'd passed on the sidewalk one day long ago, she decided to brush it off.

Alexandra walked to her seat, located, unfortunately, behind the staring boy and she tried to get settled. The class still snuck glances at her, but the staring from the majority of the class had stopped for the most part which allowed her to breathe again.

"Well now that everyone's settled, I guess we can resume. Oh, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Marcot is going to be your new lab partner so you won't have to worry about doing that project by yourself," he said while turning back to the board, missing how the muscles tightened in the boy's back before he put his head on the desk as if he wanted to disappear.

Mr. Marsey passed out worksheets to the class which contained instructions for a lab. The class started to talk with their partners and gather at their lab stations, excited to not be listening to a boring lecture. Alexandra waited for her partner to get out of his desk, but his head was still down. She shifted in her seat for a moment then decided to get up. What was his problem? He must have heard her get up because he turned around.

"So I guess we're lab partners now. My name's Alexandra, though you probably already know that," she babbled and stuck out his hand with a slight smile.

"Hey," he said but didn't take her hand. He studied her for a moment which made her feel self-conscious. His gaze made her feel funny. There were those same stirrings again that she'd felt earlier when looking at those letters on the box. His gaze was guarded but she couldn't help but feel unworthy of his glance or like he desperately wanted to be looking at someone else. Then with a sigh the boy said, "I'm Liam." He grabbed his worksheet, pushed aside her outstretched hand as he stood, and walked through the mazes of desks to their station. She watched him get to work gathering supplies and she followed, slightly frustrated. Alexandra arrived at his side and he pointed to a beaker, speaking very factual without any pleasantries. "It says here we need hydrochloric acid. Can you go and fill the beaker up to the 50ml? Be careful, it can burn you."

Alexandra walked off with the beaker after giving him a weird look. What was up with this kid? Why was he so uncomfortable around her? Maybe it wasn't her; maybe he was just awkward in life. By the way all the girls in the class stared after every move he made as if worshiping whatever he touched, she seriously doubted he was one of those socially awkward kids no one ever got along with. Liam seemed to be in his own thoughts when she arrived back at the counter.

"Got it." She put the beaker down and then looked over his shoulder at the instructions. Used to doing all the work herself, it was weird being in the backseat position. He stiffened when she leaned closer. That was weird. Maybe he just liked to have more of a personal bubble; she thought and stepped back a little. Liam took a deep breath and then began mixing solutions. "Can I help?" she asked, used to being the one doing all the work.

"Um...yeah sure," he pointed to a direction on the worksheet. "I guess you could start mixing those two things together."

She reached around him to grab a graduated cylinder and her hand brushed against his. In one instant, the beaker he was stirring fell to the ground in a shatter, glass flying everywhere and he froze. Before anyone could say anything, Liam bolted across the room, grabbed his books, and ran out the door, leaving a very confused lab partner in his wake.

Liam's skin felt like fire where she touched him and he thought his lungs were going to completely stop receiving oxygen. Running out to his car, he was caught in a slight drizzle coming from the dark clouds above. He paused and let the cold droplets cool his hot face. He had to get control of himself before he fully lost it. Jumping into his white pick-up, he revved the engine and sped out the parking lot as fast as his old Chevy would go. He made it home in record time and opened the door only to see his mother sitting on the couch.

"I thought you'd be back," she said softly, eyes full of pity for her son. "Maybe we should have that talk now."

He let out a hard laugh that came out more like a strangled cry as he plopped down on the couch beside his mother. "Yes, we should."

"Well I was trying to tell you this morning that our old neighbors are back," she said wryly, forcing herself to look at his face. "They came back because Maria had a job opportunity here she couldn't pass up."

"They weren't supposed to come back," he said quietly, playing with his class ring. The red gem shined like the wet blood that had coated his girlfriend's head the night of the accident. "They were all supposed to leave. They were never supposed to come back."

"Well they did." His mother put her hand on his knee. "Son, I know you were young, but do you remember what the doctor said?"

"Yeah. That Em-" he took a shaky breath. Liam hadn't said her name in six years. "Emily is gone and is never coming back. There was too much damage to her cerebral cortex," he said curtly, turning away from her.

"That's right. That does mean that she's gone. The family is back in town now and it's going to be hard for all of us. I'm worried about you. She's gone and we all need to accept that, but I miss my best friend like you miss yours and I would like to get to know the new-"

Liam cut her off. "No. That's not fair. The first girl I ever loved is dead and your best friend moved away. It's not the same. You can't invite a stranger and a family we used to know years ago into this house and expect things to go back the way they were."

"Of course things won't go back to how they were. How could they?" she whispered as her voice broke. She shook her head, tears shining in her eyes.

"The girl that showed up in class today can't replace her. She won't replace the girl that died in that car accident six years ago." He set his jaw and tried to wipe the tears away before his mother noticed. "Emily died in that car and I was never supposed to have to deal with this again and now it's being forced on me. Why are they here? Why can't they just leave us alone?" he was practically screaming now.

"Honey, you need to give her the chance she deserves," his mother tried to sooth. "We both know that she'll try to be your friend whether you want it or not. It's your choice whether you let her in or not."

"Yeah well Emily is dead and this Alexandra girl is a stranger who I don't want to get to know." With that, he ran upstairs to his room and locked the door. Sliding his back down the wall to the floor, he let out the sobs he'd been keeping in. "Why are you doing this to me Emily?" he screamed towards the heavens.

Alexandra couldn't focus for the rest of the day. All she could think about was her lab partner Liam and how he almost fell over one of the desks trying to get away from her. It was like she was the acid that had touched him, not the chemical that had fallen to the ground with the shattering beaker. She didn't understand him. At lunch she looked around the cafeteria for him with no avail. It appeared that Liam had left school for the day. What was going on?

When the last bell of the day sounded, she followed the students in her World History class out into the hallways. The narrow passageway was swarmed with students and she felt as if she swimming against a school of fish, trying to shove her way through the maze of hallways. Finally she made it to her locker and opened it, attempting to shove books onto the shelf before someone bumped into her and made her drop everything on the floor. Groaning and quietly cursing to herself and she bent down.

"Oh I'm really sorry about that," she heard a deep voice say. She looked up to see a light skinned senior with a bush of curly hair atop his head bending down to help her.

"Thanks," she smiled at him and held out her hand as he continued to help her with her belongings. "I'm Alexandra."

He put her books in her locker before grabbing the extended hand. "Connor." He smiled at her, a friendly smile that she welcomed. "Nice to meet you. You must be the new girl."

She laughed quietly. "That'd be me."

"Cool. Well I've got to run, but I'll definitely catch up with you tomorrow. I'll try to find you in the cafeteria tomorrow at lunch."

"Sounds great!" She smiled at him again and waved as he disappeared into the crowd of students. At least she'd met one nice person today.

Making her way out of the building, she located her car and threw everything into the back seat. Putting her car into reverse she followed the lines of cars out the parking lot and made her way home. Her mother was in the kitchen putting dishes into the cabinets.

"Hey sweetie. How was your first day?" she asked. There was tightness in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by her teenage daughter.

Looking around, Alexandra noted that her mother had made a lot of progress during the day. She'd hung a few decorations and most of the cabinets seemed to be stocked with spices and cooking utensils. "It was ok I guess."

"Meet anyone interesting at school?" she asked, turning away from her daughter to put more plates on the shelves. To Alexandra, it sounded like she was being very delicate with her words.

"I met this guy named Connor who seemed nice enough. He offered to have lunch with me tomorrow," she said while grabbing a box full of rags and kitchen towels. "There was this guy named Liam who was really weird in my Chemistry class. He kind of ran out of school and ditched the rest of the day. It was weird." She was too busy putting the cloths away into a drawer to notice her mother blanch and drop what she was doing.

"I'm going to go and, um, run an errand really quick. I'll be back in a little while." Her mother grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"Um...ok?" Alexandra stared after her mother in confusion before turning back to the boxes still cluttering the floor. "There must be a blue moon or something in the water today," she said to herself as she grabbed the placemats to adorn the new dining table.


End file.
